Interactive Secret Letters

Many people from the region have accepted our invitation to share the secrets of their families' letters with us. In this way, forgotten life stories emerge from the background and the fates behind the letters are given a new appreciation. 

Lifelines become visible that lead right across Europe to the Atlantic - flight and emigration, longing and uprooting, political and private matters. The letters - such as those of Maria Augusta von Trapp from her American exile or those of the 15-year-old Nora from her missions as a Red Cross nurse in the First World War, to name just two examples - become a precious burning glass that brings the recent and more distant past vividly before our eyes. The deeply personal thoughts reflect the lives of the people in our region and the contemporary events that shaped their lives.

These private testimonies are juxtaposed with the correspondence of artists, scientists and politicians who were guests in the Salzkammergut in two different readings in order to open up new perspectives: The focus is on the postcard idyll and its flipside, the summer resort and everyday life and also the sometimes fateful desires that a landscape and its inhabitants encounter. The focus is on the stories behind the history.

More about the project at salzkammergut-2024.at and festwochen-gmunden.at